Faith: Part 2 - Mere Christianity Book 3 Chapter 12 - Episode 25

Today we wrap up book 3 of Mere Christianity and explore the higher sense of faith and what it means.

...Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who ask you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect...

1 Peter 3:15

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Transcript

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There is no checklist to earn God's favor or salvation. Start practicing Christian values, and you'll learn pretty quickly that we fail like a lot. But that is the point. We can't do any of this alone or for ourselves, and God never intended that. And when we realize these things and accept them, this, Lewis says, is where we can finally begin to really live. Today we are wrapping up our look at Christian behavior in C.S. Lewis's mere Christianity and coming to what he calls the higher sense of faith. But before he even begins explaining it, he gives us a bit of a disclaimer. He says that if what he's about to talk about doesn't seem to make much sense to you right now, don't worry about it. Put it on a shelf for a while and come back to it later. Now, that's not because he doesn't think you're smart enough to understand it. It's because there are certain things in the Christian life that simply cannot be learned just by hearing about it. They have to be experienced and discovered. You can explain them, you can hear someone else talk about it, you can even understand the words intellectually, but until you've walked through certain seasons with God yourself, they don't really come alive. That's one of the beautiful things about following Christ. There's always more to discover, more to learn, more ways to grow, more of God's character, to be experienced. So if this chapter feels a little out of reach today, Lewis would simply say, that's okay. Keep walking. Come back to it later. Last time we looked at the first meaning of faith, we saw that faith isn't just blind belief. It's a virtue of holding on to what your reason has already accepted as true when your feelings try to convince you otherwise. Now Lewis shifts gears. He says there's a second or higher sense of faith. He actually hinted at it right at the end of the last chapter with a simple illustration. Imagine a little boy asking his father for some money so he can go buy his dad a birthday gift. Every parent smiles at that picture because we all know what's happening. That father gives the child the money and then later receives the gift with genuine joy. The child really did give his father a present, but he could have never done it unless his father had first provided everything he needed. Lewis says, that's us. When we begin practicing these Christian virtues, it's easy to think we're bringing something impressive to God, as though we've earned it ourselves. But the reality is very different. Everything we have comes from him. So when we offer him our love, our obedience, our service, and our worship, we're really giving back what he first placed into our hands. And yet, just like that father, God receives those gifts with delight. So Lewis says the higher sense of the virtue of faith is realizing that we are in fact bankrupt before God. That's when we can truly start living for Him, by Him, through Him, and leave all the striving, all the white knuckle trying behind. Living our lives with these virtues is important and best, but they are not a checklist for us to make sure we're right with God and earning our salvation. They matter because, again, Lewis reiterates: God wants us to be creatures of a certain quality and related to Him in a certain way. And it's so important that this fact of our inability to do this without it all coming from God is realized, or better yet, discovered through our own lived experiences. I grew up in the South in a Christian home. While I didn't grow up going to church, my location was enough for me to have some of the things of God and the Bible drilled in to me. God is real, God loves us, Jesus died for us. My husband and I are raising our four children in church, and so they are getting all those things and more constantly and consistently presented to them. But I've also tried to make something very clear to them. I have done my own searching. I've asked my own questions, I've wrestled with my own doubts, and through that I've come to the reasonable conclusion that Christianity is true. But my faith cannot simply be handed to them. They have to make that journey themselves. They have to discover for themselves that Christ is trustworthy. And if that means they have to ask hard questions, I hope they do, or even wander for a season, as painful as that would be, I would rather they wrestle honestly and come back with a faith that is truly their own than simply borrow mine for the rest of their lives. Because our parents' faith cannot be transferred to us. Ours cannot be given to our children. Every single one of us must come to the place where we not only know in our minds what is true and accept God, but we also need to believe it in our hearts, our souls, the inner core of our beings. And that is a process, a discovering. For some, like the Apostle Paul, it can be more instantaneous. You can read about his transformation in the book of Acts in the Bible. For the rest of us, it will be a slightly longer process. And for some, it might take quite a while. Lewis says there usually isn't a specific moment we can point to where we can say, there, that's the exact moment I changed from being confident about my own efforts to the state that I despaired of doing anything for myself and left it to God. And really, if you try and force that moment to happen, it can be a lot like an insomniac lying there trying to will themselves to fall asleep. It ain't happening. But that's why Lewis says it's a discovery. You have to first go through the trying and failing on your own. We are quite stubborn creatures, but eventually we surrender and come to that point of knowing for ourselves that we truly need God for it all. Lewis says that's when we begin to try in a new way, not in a way to save ourselves or get on God's good side, or because we're worried about pleasing or even appeasing him. No, now we do these things because we know we are secure and now want and desire to be like him. Our actions then begin to come from a place of love. Now, this can become one of those points that brings us into different rooms off the hall of what Lewis says is mere Christianity. So we won't get into it too much further. But it's the relationship between the good works we do and our faith in Christ. And if it's one in particular that leads us home. Some say good actions are all that matter, while others say it's only faith. The biggest takeaway from this point is this, and I'll quote Lewis. If what you call your faith in Christ does not involve taking the slightest notice of what he says to do and be like, then it's not faith at all. Not faith or trust in him, but only intellectual acceptance of some theory of him. And then he wisely quotes the verse in the Bible that says, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you. So is it works or not? Basically, yes, you can, but no. The point is this love God with all your heart, with all your mind, and all your soul, and all your strength. And he will graciously lead you along the narrow path of truth and life with him and teach you every step of the way which way you should go. This level of faith is the fullest of reliance on him, and it's the best place to be. And with that, we wrap up our look into Christian behavior and what we call the virtues. I hope you have a better understanding of those things now. Remember, we're not trying to be experts here. Our goal is to better understand for ourselves and to be able to have some good and thoughtful conversations with others, whether they totally disagree or are confused or just want to know more. These are the conversations we want to be having and be better prepared for. Next time, we will start the fourth and final volume of this book. I don't want us to get intimidated. It's about doctrine, but as always, we're gonna take it one little bite at a time so that by the end of it all we will all think, that wasn't so bad. I actually kind of get it now. We're gonna talk about things like the Trinity, Toy Soldiers, Beauty and the Beast, and playing pretend, and finally counting the cost and being a new man or woman. I look forward to seeing you next time. I'll probably be taking a week or two off from posting, but mostly just to get ahead a bit, because I'm a terrible procrastinator. And I also want to enjoy a bit of the summer with my family. So in the meantime, don't forget to have these conversations because the truth is worth knowing and sharing. I'll see you next time.